Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and increasingly an important figure in the new administration of US president-elect Donald Trump, has taken exception to what the Sydney Morning Herald has written about him.
David Swan, the technology editor at The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, who last year won a best journalist gold Lizzie in the IT Journalism awards, wrote about Musk in his 2025 predictions article.
The article headline: Elon Musk quits Tesla, flying cars take off: The predictions for tech in 2025
“After constant controversies and distractions, it will all come to a head in 2025, and Musk will be forced to hand over the reins at Tesla, a company many mistakenly think he founded,” Swan wrote.
Musk took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which he owns, to voice his displeasure.
“I predict that the Sydney Morning Herald will continue to lose readership in 2025 for relentlessly lying to their audience and boring them to death,” Musk said.
Swan had outlined how Musk was now in Trump's inner circle, and will jointly lead the president-elect's DOGE, the so-called department of government efficiency.
“Musk has found himself at loggerheads with MAGA diehards like Steve Bannon over immigration issues, and the inauguration is still weeks away,” Swan wrote.
“He's also been at odds with the justice system, after a US judge blocked Musk's $US56 billion ($90 billion) pay package from Tesla.”
Swan's response to Musk: "Couldn’t disagree more with Elon on this one."
Musk, a well known supporter of free speech, doesn't think much of so-called mainstream or legacy media.
"I almost never read legacy news anymore," he said in October. "What’s the point of reading 1000 words about something that was already posted on X several days ago?"
Musk is also suing advertisers because they have acted in unison to stop spending money with him on his private social media platform.
Advertisers say this is all about brand safety and whether or not advertisers can together set standards to determine which platforms are safer and which are not so savoury.
However, others say this is the operation of a cartel, whose members are part of a conspiracy trying to bring down social media platforms and publications, with a conservative bent, which promote viewpoints they don’t agree with.
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